POLICY:Emergency drugs and supplies, used only in case of a medical emergency, shall be immediately available, located in the crash cart. The Crash cart contents will be listed in a log maintained outside of the cart. The anesthesia provider and the medical director will determine the contents of the cart. Drugs used for management of anesthesia, and drugs used to prevent accidental deeper stages of anesthesiology are also kept in a drawer near the anesthesiologist labeled "Emergency Drugs". These drugs have also been provided to facilitate expeditious administration of emergency drugs in the event that the time to retrieve the crash cart is deemed to lengthy and jeopardizes the patients safety. Contents of these drawers are provided in our office documentation and policies.

PROCEDURE:1. The crash cart will remain sealed, with a numbered seal intact, at all times when not in use. The seal will be legitimately removed only when an emergency situation arises or by staff to re-check the contents.

2. Under no circumstances will the contents of the crash cart be used for routine care; the anesthesia provider will not be allowed to work out of the cart i.e. utilize emergency medications for management of the patient; there by affecting the quantity of the 'crash cart' medications.

3. Drugs stocked on the crash cart shall conform with the inventory sheet maintained on the cart.

4. The crash cart shall be located in an area accessible to the Operating Room and the areas used for recovery.

5. The integrity of the crash cart will be checked on every surgery day by verifying that the seal is intact. Qualified personnel will be assigned to inspect the crash cart for completeness and functioning of equipment at least monthly or at any time that it is observed that the twist-off seal has been removed for legitimate or illegitimate purposes. The crash cart log will be completed at each inspection--whether physical or visual.

6. Medications will be checked monthly for expiration dates and replaced as needed.

7. All personnel in the facility will be oriented as to the location of the crash cart.

8. All professional personnel will participate in regular Code drills.